EASTON ZONERS TABLE ACTION ON CONVERSION OF LAFAYETTE BUILDING

During a special meeting last night, the Easton Zoning Hearing Board voted 3-0 to table a decision on the appeal of Lafayette College to establish rooming units at 426 Clinton Ave.

The board also voted 3-0 to allow the proposed 26-unit Terrace Street Court development on South Side.

Board members Matthew Sportelli and Marion H. Krisiewicz were absent.

The decision to table action on the Lafayette building arose from some confusion as to whether the house would be used for a dormitory or special- interest rooming units.

The college wants to convert a single-family residence into a rooming house with seven rooms for 13 students.

Last June the board approved a college plan to convert the structure into offices. Neighbors went to Northampton County Court to oppose that plan.

Meanwhile, the college developed a new plan to convert the building into a student residence. The court ruled that an office was permissible and returned the matter to the board.

After the court ruling, the board rejected the plan for variances for a residence hall.

The board, according to solicitor Roseann Joseph, never received an application detailing the dimensions of the structure.

Therefore, the board voted to have the college deliver both the site plans and the application to the acting zoning administrator, Gary Cleaver, so that the board can review the dimensions of the home before the next special meeting on July 7 at 7 p.m.

Attorney Daniel Cohen, representing Lafayette, said that the documents should be available within a week.

Joseph reminded the board and neighbors at the meeting that although the hearing will be reopened on July 7, the testimony should be general and limited to the site plan and parking. She added, "Any other comment on the site plan would be redundant."

Joseph also said that only board members Ralph F. Singley, Alfonso Morrello and Chairman Martin Barr should render the final decision, "to protect the integrity of the decision-making process."

The confusion centered on whether the board should allow Lafayette a variance or special exception.

Lafayette's appeal last night left the board with several options. According to Joseph, one was to grant variances on the building's height limits under a special exception; another was to grant a variance, even though Joseph believed that the zoning code would not permit that variance.

Refering to the board's request, Joseph said, "We need dimensional variances to determine whether we need a use variance or special exception."

Last night was the third hearing for Jay Miller of 709 Broadhead St., who plans to build Terrace Street Court, 12 two-bedroom and 14 three-bedroom townhouses on a 2.3-acre tract bounded by Grant Street on the south, Rockdale Street on the west, Bird Street on the north and Salk Street on the east. Each unit would cost between $90,000 and $130,000.

At its last meeting, the board placed Miller's variance applications on hold because the project had not gone before the city Planning Commission.

Also, the city's Technical Review Committee raised safety issues.

The committee required an additional access for emergency vehicles. Project engineer Donald Frederickson, according to Cleaver, proposed that such an access be attached to the development's cul-de-sac to link Terrace Street to Bird Street.

Cleaver said that the passageway would have a stone base, but be covered by 4 inches of sod and topsoil to lend an aesthetic quality to the area.

"It would look like a side yard," he said.

Singley said that the feature was a "fine complement" to the plan, adding he was certain that police and fire vehicles could travel in and out of the development with ease.

Cleaver added that Frederickson has used a hidden fire lane in some Bethlehem Township developments, but was not sure if the method is in use anywhere in Easton.

Although some residents attended the sessions on both Lafayette and Terrace Street Court, no testimony was taken.

The board also granted a variance to allow a five-unit apartment house at 29 and 31 S. 7th St., with the condition that the state Labor and Industry Department also approve the subdivision.

According to attorney Anthony Blasco, counsel for property owner Martin Murphy, Cleaver may have made a clerical error when Murphy purchased the property from Patrick Mangan in 1986. Blasco said the error indicated that the property could be used only for a single-family dwelling.